Originally Posted by peachfront
Unfortunately, since mammograms are not an accurate tool for young breasts, then I'm not sure of the relevance of the story about the 27 year old breast cancer victim. She was just unlucky. Responsible doctors don't recommend mammograms to women of that age anyway, except in extraordinary circumstances, since the risk of the radiation being applied to young, dense breasts is greater than the gain. There was enough debate in years gone by about whether baseline should be taken at age at 35 or age 40. As a physics major, aware that there is no completely safe level of radiation that can be applied to the human breasts, I convinced my ob/gyn to put it off until after 40. And I think I did the right thing. If I'd been having mammograms since my 20s, there's a not impossible chance I'd have radiation induced cancer today. The tool must be used cautiously. All medicines are poisons, as the ancients used to say.
Last I heard, digital mammograms are in general better for younger women whereas the old-fashioned mammogram is better for older women(see
http://www.komen.org/intradoc-cgi/id...talmammography
September 20, 2005 - Digital mammography may be more accurate than conventional film mammography for women younger than 50, women who have dense breasts and women who are pre- or peri-menopausal (meaning they have had at least one menstrual period within the last year), according to a study released online on September 16, 2005 by the New England Journal of Medicine. However, for women overall there was no difference in accuracy between the standard film-based mammography procedure and digital mammography. )
Rarer, very aggressive forms of breast do exist and tend to target younger women- don't rely on your mammogram alone - do your monthly self-check and go in if you find anything at all suspicious.